GHSA-x6ph-r535-3vjw is a high-severity (CVSS 7) Incorrect Default Permissions vulnerability in chainguard.dev/apko. A fix is available for chainguard.dev/apko — see the affected versions and patch details below.
apko is vulnerable to attack through incorrect permissions in /etc/ld.so.cache and other files
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-x6ph-r535-3vjw.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-x6ph-r535-3vjw plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 379,145 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
chainguard.dev/apkoReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
It was discovered that the ld.so.cache in images generated by apko had file system permissions mode 0666:
bash-5.3# find / -type f -perm -o+w
/etc/ld.so.cache
This issue was introduced in commit 04f37e2 ("generate /etc/ld.so.cache (#1629)")(v0.27.0).
Impact
This potentially allows a local unprivileged user to add additional additional directories including dynamic libraries to the dynamic loader path. A user could exploit this by placing a malicious library in a directory they control.
Patches
This issue was addressed in apko in aedb077 ("fix: /etc/ld.so.cache file permissions (#1758)") (v0.29.5).
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Cody Harris from H2O.ai for reporting this issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | chainguard.dev/apko | ≥ 0.27.0&&< 0.29.5 | 0.29.5go get chainguard.dev/apko@v0.29.5 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for chainguard.dev/apko, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update chainguard.dev/apko to 0.29.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-x6ph-r535-3vjw is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-x6ph-r535-3vjw can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-x6ph-r535-3vjw. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-x6ph-r535-3vjw in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-x6ph-r535-3vjw across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.